PAM. 

tIAPAH 


//7f 


Cbe  Call*,* 


from  'Japan 


'Bbc  Gall  from  Japan. 


BY  REV.  W.  E.  TOWSON. 


IOTWITHSTANDING  the  movement  in 
Japan  for  an  independent  and  self- 
governing  Church,  there  remains  a call 
for  missionary  effort  in  that  remark- 
able country.  I base  this  call  on  five  conditions: 


What  Has  Been  Accomplished. 


There  has  been  less  than  one  generation  of 
active  missionary  work  in  Japan.  The  results 
show  about  60,000  Protestant,  60,000  Roman 
and  30,000  Greek  Catholic  Christians.  The 
leading  pastor  has  recently  said:  “There  are 
more  than  one  million  who  are  ordering  their 
lives  by  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  who  only 
require  to  be  brought  to  a public  confession 
of  faith.”  There  is  a “Christian  Party”  whose 
influence  has  been  estimated  at  one  hundred 
times  the  number  of  the  Christians.  Their  in- 
fluence has  been  markedly  manifested  in  poli- 
tics and  in  moral  effort.  The  Christian  mem- 
bers of  Parliament  have  never  exceeded  thir- 
teen out  of  three  hundred  and  sixty;  still  there 
have  been  elected  two  Christians  as  presidents 
of  the  body,  one  of  these  reelected  five  times. 
The  Emperor  has  made  monetary  gifts  to  the 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Association,  to  a Prot- 
estant orphan  asylum,  and  to  a home  for  re- 
leased prisoners.  These  have  varied  from  1,000 
to  10,000  yen  (about  $500  to  $5,000). 

It  is  known  that  the  Prince  Imperial  occa- 
sionally quietly  goes  to  a church  and  listens 


to  a Christian  sermon.  His  eldest  son  has  a 
governess  who  is  a Christian,  a member  of 
the  Methodist  Church,  f^ishop  Candler,  who 
spent  several  months  in  Japan  recently,  said 
he  would  not  be  surprised  if  the  present  prince, 
when  he  reaches  the  throne,  would  have  a 
court  preacher.  Few,  if  any,  of  the  mission 
fields  can  show  results  as  great  as  these  ac- 
complished in  as  brief  a period. 

What  is  Being  Accomplished. 

A recent  writer  has  said  that  “the  most 
marked  feature  in  Christian  work  in  Japan 
to-day  is  the  movement  of  the  nation  as  a 
whole  toward  Christianity.”  A leading  pastor 
says:  “The  tiipe  has  come  when  people  have 
to  be  restrained,  so  eager  are  they  to  receive 
baptism.”  In  meetings  of  but  two  or  three 
days’  duration  it  is  a common  occurrence  for 
from  fifty  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  names 
to  be  handed  in  of  those  whp  wish  to  study 
Christianity  or  to  become  .Christians.  A few 
months  since,  at  one  brief  meeting,  oyer  seven 
hundred  names  were  received.  During  his  re- 
cent visit,  General  Booth  held  nine  evening 
services,  in  which  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine 
persons  went  forward  to  the  “mourners’ 
bench.”  A letter  from  a friend  tej}s  me  of 
over  two  hundred  whp  have  come  into  the 
Church  within  a few  months  on  one  island. 

Our  Work  and  the  United  Church. 

In  1886  Dr.  J.  W.  Lanibuth  apd  son,  Dr.  W. 
R.  Lambuth,  and  Q.  A.  Dukes  were  transferred 
from  China  to  open  work  for  tjie  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  They  selected  a ter- 
3 


ritory  unoccupied  by  any  other  Methodism. 
This  territory  is  a fertile  and  populous  region, 
comprising  the  southern  part  of  the  main- 
land, the  Island  of  Shikoku,  and  northeastern 
part  of  Kiushiu.  It  contains  the  four  large 
cities  of  Kobe,  Osaka,  Kioto,  and  Hiroshima, 
aggregating  over  1,500,000  population.  The 
smaller  cities,  towns  and  villages  are  almost 
countless.  Our  educational  work  has  been  wise 
and  successful;  the  Kwansei  Gakuin,  of  Kobe; 
our  Anglo- Japanese  College  at  Kobe,  with  258 
students;  the  Hiroshima,  Girls’  School,  cover- 
ing nearly  a whole  block,  in  a new  building, 
with  945  students ; the  Lambuth  Memorial 
Training  School  for  Bible  women,  in  Kobe, 
with  64  students;  and  the  Palmore  Institute, 
in  Kobe,  with  140  students.  These  are  crowd- 
ed, and  are  greatly  in  need  of  enlargement  and 
fuller  equipment. 

The  evangelistic  work  is  carried  on  in  fifteen 
circuits  and  stations,  with  twenty-four  organ- 
ized churches  and  thirty- eight  chapels  and 
houses  of  worship.  Two  hundred  and  sixty 
three  were  added  to  the  Church  on  profession 
of  faith  last  year. 

Our  mission  leads  them  all  in  the  proportion 
of  Sunday-school  scholars  to  Church  members. 
There  are  5,451  of  the  former  to  1,774  of  the 
latter — more  than  three  to  one.  Let  it  be  re- 
membered, however,  that  no  record  of  facts 
can  keep  pace  with  the  rapid  changes.  What 
is  correct  to-day  will  be  different  to-morrow. 

One  of  the  most  significant  missionary  facts 
of  recent  years  was  the  union  of  three  Meth- 
odisms  into  one,  and  the  setting  up  of  a native 
Church  among  a people  so  recently  strangers 
4 


to  the  gospel.  This  was  accomplished  when, 
on  May  19,  1907,  the  Methodist  Episcopal,  the 
Canadian  Methodist,  and  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  united  to  form  the  Nippon 
Methodist  Kyokwai,  and  the  body  formed  a 
Discipline  and  elected  a bishop  of  its  own. 
The  first  Annual  Conference  under  the  new 
arrangement  met  March  31,  1908. 

This  by  no  means  discharges  the  Boards 
from  responsibility  to  continue  their  aid.  This 
will  be  necessary  for  years  to  come.  Our  Board 
will  therefore  still  continue  to  contribute  and 
our  missionary  will  still  labor  [in  cooperation 
with  the  Japanese  Methodist  Church. 

The  Boards  that  have  work  in  Japan  should 
still  give  them  a large  measure  of  financial  co- 
operation, yet  I believe  that  if  Japanese  Chris- 
tianity were  left  to  itself  it  is  vitally  sufficient 
to  carry  on  the  work  to  a crowning  success. 
A recent  writer  has  said  that  if  American  Chris- 
tianity by  some  cataclysm  should  be  totally 
destroyed,  Japanese  Christianity  would  send 
missionaries  to  this  country  to  restore  the  lost 
faith.  In  some  respects,  Japan  is  in  a better 
position  to  receive  Christianity  than  America. 
Christianity  means  suffering,  and  the  United 
States  is  not  suffering  to-day.  Japan  has  re- 
cently had  her  baptism  of  suffering,  while  the 
United  States  is  reveling  in  wealth  and  luxury. 
God  has  been  preparing  this  country  to  bear 
the  suffering  of  other  nations.  May  He  put 
Japan,  China,  and  Korea  upon  the  heart  of 
American  Christianity!  Unless  the  United  States 
enters  into  suffering  with  the  spiritually  needy 
nations,  there  is  real  danger  that  she  will  lose 
her  Christianity. 


5 


The  Present  Need. 

Over  three-fourths  of  Japan  is  unevajig^l- 
ized.  This  is  three  times  as  many  people  as 
are  in  all  Korea,  and  yet  there  is  npt  a borne 
in  alj  i Japan  that  is  pot  illpmin^d  by  .coal  oil 
brought  from  Christian  lands.  In  little  towns 
of  a few  hundred  inhabitants  can  be  seen  the 
advertisement  of  Duke’s  “Cameo”  cigarettes, 
manufactured  by  a Christian  merchant  of  our 
Southland;  and  yet  in  these  same  to^yns  there 
are  no  phurches,  chapels,  or  Bibles.  What  do 
these  things  mean  but  that  Christian  business 
men  are  m°re  alive  tQ  the  opportunity  to  se- 
cure wealth  than  the  Chjurch  is  to  win  souls? 
1 bring  you  no  picture  of  the  degradation,  the 
superstition,  and  the  idolatry  of  Japan;  I sim- 
ply base  the  plea  for  Japan  on  the  fact  that 
three-fourths  of  its  inhabitants  are  without 
Christ.  There  is  no  other  basis  fpr  Christian 
propagapdism  than  this:  “Without  God  and 
without  hppe  in  the  world.” 

The  Need  as  Recognized  py  the  Nation’s 
Leaders. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  Marquis  It o said:  “I 
regard  religion  as  quite  unnecessary  for  a na- 
tion’s life.”  To-day  he  says:  “We  get  our  civ- 
ilization from  the  West,  and  we  mugt  get  our 
religion  from  the  same  source.”  Count  Okuma 
has  recently  said:  “The  notion  I entertained 
of  the  efficiency  of  a material  civilization  I 
now  admit  to  have  been  a mistaken  one.” 

The  reasons  for  this  revolution  in  thought 
are:  (1)  The  attempt  to  establish  a high  moral 
standard  in  Japan  without  religion  has  failed. 
The  new  wine  of  Western  civilization  is  burst - 


6 


ing  the  old  bottles  of  mediaeval  Japan.  The 
moral  and  social  standard  which  did  for 
feudalism  and  a closed  nation  is  not  standing 
the  strain  and  stress  of  the  world’s  best  civili- 
zation. Japan  is  learning  the  lesson  that  ma- 
terial civilization  alone  is  not  sufficient  for 
the  life  of  a nation.  Vice  was  never  more 
rampant.  “The  bottom  has  dropped  out  of 
Japanese  morality.”  (2)  I'Eey'  recognize  that 
Christianity  is  the  basis  of  Western  civiliza- 
tion, and  that  the  structure  they  have  reared 
will  soon  fall  unless  they  strengthen  the  founda- 
tion. Hence  the  change  in  the  opinions  of 
Marquis  Ito  and  other  leaders.  (3)  Chris- 
tianity has  produced  a new  type  of  men  and 
women,  truly  different  from  any  Japan  has 
known  heretofore;  produced  men  who,  while 
occupying  positions  of  place  and  power,  are 
uninfluenced  by  graft  or  any  other  species  of 
wrongdoing. 

Japan’s  Present  World  Position. 

Japan  stands  on  an  equality  with  the  civ- 
ilized nations  of  the  world.  She  is  in  military 
alliance  with  England.  Japan  is  the  leader  of 
the  East,  the  pilot  of  the  Oriental  ship  of 
state.  In  her  hands  is  the  destiny  of  the 
Orient.  As  goes  Japan,  so  will  go  Korea,  China 
and  Siam.  I believe  God  has  called  her  to 
this  position.  We  must  not  eliminate  God 
from  the  movements  of  history.  “Christ  is 
the  head  over  all  things  to  the  Church.”  It 
surely  was  providential  that  Korea  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Japan,  rather  than  into  the  hapds 
of  Russia.  If  it  had  been  the  latter,  it  would 
have  meant  the  death  of  all  Protestant  mis- 
7 


sionary  effort  in  that  country.  Japan  has  been 
criticised  in  reference  to  her  management  of 
Korea.  So  has  the  United  States  in  regard 
to  her  conduct  in  the  Philippines.  If  left  to 
herself,  the  coming  years  will  show  that  Japan 
will  do  for  Korea  what  England  has  done  for 
Egypt. 

Japan  is  the  schoolmaster  of  the  Orient. 
There  are  over  eighteen  thousand  Korean, 
Siamese,  and  Chinese  students  in  her  capital. 
There  has  never  been  such  a movement  of  stu- 
dents to  one  country  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
Special  missionaries  have  been  appointed  for 
work  among  these  students.  Japan  is  not 
only  the  schoolmaster  of  these  eighteen  thousand 
students,  but  she  is  the  schoolmaster  of  the 
entire  East*  and  from  her  China,  Siam  and 
India  will  learn  the  lessons  of  independence, 
self-government,  and  civilization.  The  impor- 
tance of  the  situation  in  Japan  has  not  been 
equaled  in  the  whole  history  of  missions.  Were 
she  not  the  tremendously  energetic  and  pro- 
gressive country  that  she  is,  the  winning  of  her 
millions  to  Christ  would  present  a call  worthy 
of  the  activities  of  the  Church.  But  when  we 
think  of  Japan’s  position  and  influence,  of 
what  she  has  accomplished,  and  of  what  she 
promises  in  the  world’s  field,  we  have  a situa- 
tion and  a call  as  colossal  as  momentous  facts 
can  make  them  possible.  Every  prayer  for 
Japan  is  a prayer  of  the  whole  East.  Contri- 
butions for  Japan  are  contributions  for  the 
entire  East.  And  every  servant  of  the  Church 
sent  to  Japan  is  sent  to  the  entire  Orient. 


Board  of  Missions,  M.  E.  Church,  South,  Nashville,  Tenn. 
8 


